AlamoLiving...

Introduction:

On any given day there are over 12,000 homes for sale in the San Antonio area. There are about a third that many licensed real estate agents (including me) anxious to help you pick one. Our outer loop (Loop 1604) encompasses an area in the magnitude of 800 square miles. Residents of Bexar County are served by 18 independent school districts. (schools, districts, and a district map is contained in the section entitled "Education".) Home prices range from under $30,000 to into the millions. Where do you begin?

Price Range:

If you are not happy with the level of buying power you are given by the mortgage lender, ask the loan officer to show you any plans or programs that might help you achieve a higher price range such as ARM's, buy-downs or bond programs. Your selection of a competent mortgage banker can be very important in your overall level of satisfaction in the home buying process.

Priorities:

Every home purchase is a series of compromises. It takes a certain amount of thought and just "looking" to find the compromise that works for you. The key elements of the compromise are neighborhood (and school district), size of the home and lot, level of amenities (eg. crown molding or garden tubs), and condition.

1. Location: Unless you are buying a mobile home, one of the hardest things to change after the purchase is location. True, neighborhoods do change over time, but that is typically a slow, unpredictable process. The location of course determines the school district--however--within a district, boundaries for a particular school may change as the area grows and new schools are built. In an established neighborhood you can see what the neighborhood looks like and what the residents are like. In a new neighborhood you need to look at the restrictive covenants and the homeowner's association to predict what it will look like in the future.
2. Size of the lot: After location, this is the next hardest item to change. Buying your neighbor's home and tearing it down to make way for your pool can be an expensive proposition.
3. Size of the home: Additions can be made to existing homes and garages can be converted to living space. Sometimes, these changes are restricted or not allowed under the restrictive covenants of the neighborhood. This must be approached carefully particularly if you are planning to sell the home within a few years. Because of regulations governing appraisals for mortgage companies, it may be difficult to recover your costs of additions or conversions. Size and amenities (below) are frequent trade-offs.
4. Amenities: These are often referred to as features of the home. They range from the amount of masonry (brick, stone, stucco or concrete) on the exterior to the quality of the kitchen cabinets or plumbing fixtures. Different builders (past and present) have set different amenity levels for their homes. In our market there appears to be a very visible (inverse) relationship between square footage of the home and the level of amenities at a given price. One builder may choose to provide larger square footage in a home including fewer standard amenities, while another builder may provide a smaller home with high ceilings and separate tub and shower in the master bath, for example, as standard. This general relationship applies to pre-owned homes as well as new. Amenities can be traded off for size.
   Note: The level of amenities can sometimes be changed later. Crown molding, for example, can be added. In building a home, amenities can be added at additional charges. Changing the ceiling height or adding a fireplace can get expensive, however, in an existing home.
5. Condition: In pre-owned homes the condition can have an effect on price. A 30 year-old home with the original kitchen and green shag carpet will typically sell for less than a similar home in the same neighborhood that has been updated. Some homes may need paint or wood replaced. In the business we refer to this as "deferred maintenance". If you are "handy", a home in poor condition may allow you to buy a size or neighborhood that you couldn't otherwise afford and build "sweat equity". It is, however, important that you be realistic about your skills and the related costs.
6. Resale potential: This can be a limiting factor if you are only going to be in the home a short time (2-4 years for example). Your tastes and interests may not be the same as other buyers. If you are likely to be transfered, the future marketability of the home needs to be considered.

Balancing these 6 items can get to be a challenge. In working with buyers who are unfamiliar with San Antonio or with home prices in general, I like to give buyers lists of similarly priced homes in different neighborhoods and amenity levels. This is an excellent way to "windshield" shop different areas to learn what the same money will buy with different mixes of these 6 categories.

Ask lots of questions. Choose a Realtor who you feel is knowledgeable and honest. There is an old, trite expression that has a lot of truth: "The only dumb question is the one that was unasked."

Finding homes--the MLS:

San Antonio has had a "multi-list" system since shortly after the turn of the century. Members of the MLS agree to share information on their listings with all other members, and to a limited extent, directly to the public through the internet. We have about 4,500 MLS members in San Antonio. Information on each of our listings (homes or lots for sale) is contained in a massive database (currently, about 12,000 homes). Under the system Realtors® are allowed to sell each others' listings and receive a commission. In fact, in this day of "buyer's agents", significantly fewer than 10% of the MLS listings are sold by the listing agent, themselves. For more information about the MLS database and accessing MLS listings through the internet, see MLS Search Capabilities.

For a really good Realtor, e-mail Randy Young or call (210) 279-6300 / (210) 293-1000